In EVB (Edge Virtual Bridging) environments, policies and attributes are specified for a particular virtual station interface (VSI) type identification (ID) (VSI-TYPE-ID). The policies are stored in a central configuration database called the VSI database (VSI-DB). These policies could have actions, such as metering incoming packets, metering outgoing packets, deny and/or permit certain packets streams (filter) based on the nature of a virtual machine (VM). Ternary content addressable memory (TCAM) devices are used to implement rules and policies in hardware.